Bretby Art Pottery - the Early Huntley & Palmers’ Biscuit Plate, Finely Glazed Art Vases and Character and Animal Figures
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Annie Clarke c1910. Bretby ‘rising sun’ backstamp with shape Three of the workshop ‘girls’ - Eva Clarke number and decorator’s date marks. furthest from the camera. clocks, wall plaques, pitchers, trompe l’œil novelties such as the Bretby art pottery - the early Huntley & Palmers’ biscuit plate, finely glazed art vases and character and animal figures. In addition there were the kind of bizarre novelty items that refused to follow the ethos of art pottery in terms of subject years by Judith Clarke or method of manufacture i.e. not aesthetically pleasing nor hand- thrown. (much Bretby pottery was press moulded) ‘Every pot tells a story’ and this wonderful private collection of According to Annie’s family Henry Tooth was a conscientious Bretby pottery and photos certainly does that. The pieces belong to the employer and had his workforce checked regularly for signs of lead family of Annie Potter, neé Clarke, who worked at Bretby from 1899 poisoning. Tooth’s workforce also included his son W.E. Tooth and until she married in 1916. Bretby evolved out of several very inter- daughter Florence who designed and decorated. Annie, like so many esting and illustrious pottery strands. Back in 1879 in Middlesborough talented young people, probably underestimated her own skills and Christopher Dresser and his business partner John Harrison set up presumably was glad to leave her work when an offer of marriage came Linthorpe Pottery. Dresser was the art director and the manager was a along. She left the works on a Friday in 1916, married on the Saturday, man called Henry Tooth. In the three years Tooth worked at Linthorpe and moved into her new home on the Monday. Indeed at a much later his chemical knowledge developed into a skillful ability to produce date, when Annie was about to move house, much of her Bretby ceramic glazes. He left Linthorpe in 1882 and by 1883 had co-founded ‘collection’ was lost for ever. Aided by her grandson Peter, she smashed his own art pottery at Woodville, South Derbyshire. His partner was up many of the pieces as they were too bulky to take with her - a story William Ault who had also worked at Linthorpe and the firm was which will horrify the many ardent collectors of this fascinating ware. officially known as Tooth & Ault, or Bretby. The current market for Bretby is a healthy one and prices are Early production consisted mainly of decorative earthenware along steadily rising, especially for larger items such as the jardinieres and similar lines to that produced at Linthorpe. When Ault left in 1887 to stick stands in the shape of animals. For a good example of a jardiniere establish his own pottery at nearby Swadlincote Henry Tooth took the on stand you might expect to pay £500-£900 and the Bretby stick stands opportunity to begin to expand his ranges, now under the name of Tooth in the shape of an owl or like the bear example shown here currently & Co. The usual vases and decorative vessels were supplemented with command £500-£600 in perfect condition. Prices are also high for early finely modelled figures, novelty items and an increasing use of glazes pieces, perhaps £600-£900 for a pair of vases and for art pottery that resembled other materials such as copper, cloisonné and bamboo. attributed to Christopher Dresser designs. Around this time Annie Clarke started work at Bretby. The year was Henry Tooth died in 1918 and over the next decade the Tooth family 1899 and she was just thirteen. Like many girls of her time and with the ties were gradually loosened with Bretby Pottery up to the point where pottery close by she never spoke of doing anything else. She and other the pottery was bought by the Parker family in 1933. The history of young decorators, such as Emily Steel, thought of themselves merely as Bretby after then is outside the scope of this article. However Bretby ‘pot work girls’. The pieces shown here all date from around the period continued until as recently as 1998 and remains a company. Barbara 1903-1915 and include a beautifully painted wall plaque of a sailing Parker informs me that the decision to close was taken reluctantly in the boat, a bird and foliage design plaque (both of which Annie decorated) face of ever increasing competition from cheaper imports. Its fate was as well as the novelty monkey/suffragette figure and examples of not helped either when the factory museum was broken into in July Bamboo Ware. Henry Tooth was responsible for most of the Bretby 1997 and some £25,000 worth of rare pieces were stolen including a designs at this time. unique bust of Henry Tooth. Fortunately a good proportion of the pieces This period was very fruitful and new ranges or versions of earlier have now been recovered and the rest of the Bretby collection is in safe wares were constantly appearing. These included the early Applique storage as are thousands of original moulds. Ware and a range called Carved Bamboo, in production for a long time Though the museum isn’t open and some of the site has now been and among some of the most commonly seen Bretby nowadays. There demolished the Company still gets plenty of calls from interested was Bronze and Jewelled Ware (utilising large Art Nouveau swathes of collectors and they try to assist people whenever possible with dating decoration and inset ceramic ‘cabochons’), Matzone (an example of their pieces. The number for Bretby Art Pottery is 01283 217434. which is the plaque with sailing boat decoration shown here), Finally the warmest thanks to Grace and Les Cuthbert for relating Dickensian ranges, Clanta, Copperette and Cloisonné. The pottery the story of their family connection with Bretby and for permission to produced ewers, stick stands, jardinieres, bowls, spill vases, mantel reproduce these photos of a treasured collection. ANTIQUES INFO - July/August 01 Small novelty monkey/suffragette ashtray. Typical Bretby wall plaque in excellent condition. Detail of hand painted wall plaque. (decoration by Annie Clarke) Detail of large jardiniere stand with elephant’s heads. Detail of wall plaque. ‘Matzone’ wall plaque - part of a group of three. Bretby bear ‘majolica’ stick stand c1915. Small cloisonné vase with hand painted Wall plaque - one of a pair. decoration. Detail of stick stand; there is also a version with a monkey clasping a ‘bamboo’ stick. ANTIQUES INFO - July/August 01 .